Search

SINGAPORE : Half a million dollars – that’s how much a forgotten lyric might cost you if you are a contestant on new Channel 5 game show, “Don’t Forget the Lyrics”.

Hosted by local celebrity, Gurmit Singh, contestants are required to sing out – karaoke style – the words to fill in the blanks in the song. And if you can keep singing it right for 10 songs, you’ll walk away with S$500,000!

Easy peasy you say? Well, not quite.

“These people who come along thinking they know the song and when the music stops, the lyrics go away, they get stumped!” Gurmit said.

“My theory is this, when people see blanks, dashes, their minds go blank as well.”

Each game consists of three tiers which are divided into nine levels. The difficulty of the challenge increases with each tier and the tiers dictate how many blank lyrics contestants have to remember and sing within a stipulated time.

Contestants have to get every exact lyric correct to pass the stage, and like “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire”, they can get help if they wish to.

Each contestant is entitled to three lifelines also known as “backups” that they can use when they are stuck at any point of the competition. But each backup can only be used once.

“Backup Singer” allows the contestant to bring a friend or family member on stage to help sing the missing lyrics.

If contestants opt for “Two Words”, they can choose any two words they have filled in to check if they are right.

The last, “3 Lines”, allows contestants to pick the correct answer from three multiple choice options.

“Every time you answer correctly, you keep going up (the different levels), higher and higher. But every time you lock in the words and they are wrong, any single word, any single punctuation is wrong, you go to either zero or S$10,000 threshold level,” Gurmit explained.

The game show also features celebrity contestants like MediaCorp actresses Fiona Xie and Jade Seah, characters from Channel 5 sitcoms such as Phua Chu Kang (Gurmit Singh), Sergeant Dollah (Suhaimi Yusof), Adrianna Wow and Barbarella Chanel (both played by Michelle Chong) and even “Singapore Idol” winners Taufik Batisah and Hady Mirza, as well as runner-up Jonathan Leong.

But the one to look out for is actress Andrea Fonseka who is “really good”. “She knows many songs, she’s like a walking encyclopedia,” said Gurmit.

“Don’t Forget the Lyrics” premiered last year in the United States, and Singapore is the 30th country in the world to showcase the popular game show. It premieres Thursday, 27 November, at 8pm on MediaCorp’s Channel 5.

Alaric Tay, who stars in “The Noose”, which is returning for a second season on Tuesday, agreed. “Singapore humour revolves around our language. We like to laugh at the way we sound – whether it’s dialects or minority groups. And there’s slapstick, of course.”

Jade Seah, who plays a nerdy teacher in new sitcom “First Class”, likes the way that our sitcoms generally address “our idiosyncrasies”.

Indeed. But is this what Singaporeans really want on their TV sets? Are we satisfied with seeing repeated parodies of our shallowest attributes?

One of the creative minds who worked on our first and most successful sitcoms – “Under One Roof” and “PCK Pte Ltd” – had a few suggestions as to why our local sitcoms haven’t progressed terribly far since Gurmit Singh hung up his yellow rubber booties.

This person declined to be named because of continuing working relations with MediaCorp, and shall hereafter be referred to as “The Truth Fairy”.

The Truth Fairy offered some constructive criticism. Perhaps we’re over-relying on stereotypical characters, hammy performances, and “a tendency to stick to family sitcoms, which are safe and middle ground”.

Singapore TV personalities put aside their friendships and ditch their glamourous images for a day, to get down and dirty to outdo each other in “The Showdown.”

Forget your usual telematch games like tug-of-war, host Dominic Lau and Game Master Suhaimi Yusof will take you on a wild ride as the teams battle it out in a series of wacky, off-the-wall challenges like Treadmill Feast and Human Fooseball.

Celebrity teams of four will be put to the test to see how well they do in a physically challenging environment outside of their element. Some games really test your agility and strength while some are just plain silly with contestants all dressed as birds (Lil’ Birdie).

Gurmit Singh, Irene Ang, Utt, Jade Seah, and Daren Tan are just some of the celebrities that viewers will be able to catch on the show.

Though this is the first time Lau is hosting a game show, the Pan Asian model and VJ from Hong Kong had so much fun that hopes to return to work in Singapore, or maybe even come back as a contestant on “The Showdown.”

“If I was in the competition, I would have kicked a**!” said a confident Lau. “Maybe not so much this egg between the legs game [Lil’ Birdie] but I’m a physical kind of guy and I enjoy a good challenge.”

On top of bragging rights, members of the winning team will also walk away with a cash prize of S$4,000! Pretty good deal for a day of fun and games.

Catch The Showdown every Thursday at 8pm, on MediaCorp Channel 5. You can also get your weekly dose of The Showdown online at

High-jumping into the spirit of the Olympics, MediaCorp TV Channel 8 will roll out a new sports-themed drama, Beach.Ball.Babes, on July 7, just before the Beijing Games kick off on August 8.

The 20-episode drama about volleyball boasts a “royal” cast that includes former beauty queens Joanne Peh and Jade Seah, two of MediaCorp’s “princesses” Jesseca Liu and Dawn Yeoh, as well as Fann Wong’s groom-to-be, Christopher Lee.

Another volleyball show, you ask?

Well, it has been years since Chen Liping was seen in The Winning Team. Besides, this latest take serves up a lot more eye candy as a lot of the action takes place at the beach which means beach babes Joanne, Jade and Jesseca will be steaming up your TV screens in their bikinis.

But sports has always had a firm place in local Chinese dramas, from 1980’s Flying Fish which starred one-time TV poster boy Wang Yuqing to the more recent The Champions (2004), featuring hot young stars like Fiona Xie and Felicia Chin.

“We try to do one or two sports dramas every year,” Kok Len Shoong, MediaCorp’s Senior Vice-President for Chinese Drama Productions, told Today. “This year, it’s especially significant because of the Olympics.”

So, why volleyball, or beach volleyball, to be precise?

“Beach volleyball is a new item at the Olympics. We think it’ll be of great interest to our viewers,” Kok explained.

SINGAPORE: Jade Seah is getting her just desserts for not paying more attention in Chinese class back in school.

The 2006 Miss Singapore Universe first runner-up and TV host has landed her very first acting role in a Chinese drama about volleyball players, and she’s hard at work, taking lessons to polish her less-than-perfect Mandarin.

Dressed in a mini denim skirt and a fitting pullover, Jade was speaking to TODAY at Caldecott Broadcasting Centre just before scooting off for volleyball practice.

Of course, we had to cajole her into answering a question in Mandarin.

“Cannot lah!” she protested, even after we told her it would be “off the record”. “Don’t bluff, your recorder is still going!”

But she eventually relented: “Okay, ask me something simple – like what I like to eat.”

Of course, we spared her blushes for being such a sport – plus, she let us in on this sneak peek: She and co-stars Joanne Peh, Jesseca Liu and Dawn Yeoh would be appearing in bikinis in the new drama (it begins filming in April and is slated to air later this year).

“I think there’s one scene where we’ll have to walk through a market in our bikini tops,” she said.

Proceeds will go to one of MediaCorp’s adopted charities – the Rainbow Centre Balestier Special School.

It’s kissing for a good cause as fans of Elvin Ng and Jade Seah paid S$10 each for a chance to kiss their favourite personalities.

“I liked him (Elvin Ng) since the time he was on TV. He’s very cute. It’s for charity and for the fun of it,” said one member of the public who was at the flea market.

“I was very nervous, but it’s just a picture so it’s okay,” said another.

And it’s not just the fans who were shy.

“Actually, I’m quite (conservative) and very shy. So last year, when they came up with the idea, I’m like … I don’t want to do this. Then I thought it’s for charity, so I’ll do it,” said MediaCorp Artiste Elvin Ng.

While “8 Days” hopes to make the event an annual affair, Elvin said he will only lend his cheeks for today.

Other MediaCorp celebrities were also there to support the event.

They included Jacelyn Tay, Adam Chen, Felicia Chin and Julian Hee, as well as Front’s hosts Eunice Olsen and Debbie Wong.

And for S$10, you can either kiss the cheeks of Elvin Ng or Jade Seah at the flea market.

“When I was told about it, I was quite afraid since our society is still conservative. But the organisers told me selling kisses is common in America. I expect that I’ll be blushing on that day,” said Ng.

Proceeds from the kisses and sales of celebrity items will go to one of MediaCorp’s adopted charities – Rainbow Centre Balestier Special School.

Editor-in-Chief for 8 Days, Lau Kuan Wei, said: “We’ve got lots of very nice clothes, bags, shirts and makeup. We also have a chair from Bryan Wong – he’s going to do a makeover of his chair, so we haven’t seen it yet. And Fann has generously donated a sofa from her warehouse. It’s a two-seater sofa.”

More than 300 cars are expected at the 8 Days’ Car Boot Flea Mart on Sunday, 2 December, at St James Power Station car park.

And 8 Days hopes to make this inaugural event an annual affair.

The 17-year-old magazine has seen readership increasing in the past few years – hitting 150,000 readers in 2006.

8 Days said recent surveys showed that more executives and professionals are turning to the magazine for their dose of entertainment.